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Proofpoint Threat Response vs Splunk Security Essentials comparison

Proofpoint and Splunk are both solutions in the Security Incident Response category. Proofpoint is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.5, while Splunk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.5. Proofpoint holds a 8.9% mindshare in IRP, compared to Splunk’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Proofpoint users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Splunk users who would recommend it.
Proofpoint Threat Response
Read 5 Proofpoint Threat Response reviews
  • 488 Views
  • 376 Comparison Views
80% willing to recommend
Splunk Security Essentials
Read 4 Splunk Security Essentials reviews
  • 515 Views
  • 103 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Proofpoint Threat Response and Splunk Security Essentials are both competing in the cybersecurity domain. Splunk Security Essentials seems to have the upper hand due to its superior features, making it a preferred choice for those prioritizing functionality.

Features: Proofpoint Threat Response provides robust threat detection, automated response capabilities, and effective threat neutralization. Splunk Security Essentials delivers comprehensive security analytics, advanced search capabilities, and emphasizes extensive data visualization and integration, focusing on proactive compliance and threat hunting.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Proofpoint Threat Response has an efficient deployment model and user-friendly setup with solid support for prompt assistance. Splunk Security Essentials has a more complex setup with thorough documentation and a large community for troubleshooting, which may require more initial technical expertise.

Pricing and ROI: Proofpoint Threat Response offers competitive pricing with significant ROI due to affordable setup costs, suitable for cost-conscious organizations. Splunk Security Essentials requires a higher initial investment but offers greater long-term value with its expansive features, appealing to those willing to invest for richer analytics and customization in their security operations.

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Buyer's Guide
Proofpoint Threat Response vs. Splunk Security Essentials
December 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Proofpoint Threat Response
Ranking in Security Incident Response
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Splunk Security Essentials
Ranking in Security Incident Response
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (16th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Security Incident Response category, the mindshare of Proofpoint Threat Response is 8.9%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Security Essentials is 3.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Incident Response Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Proofpoint Threat Response8.9%
Splunk Security Essentials3.3%
Other87.8%
Security Incident Response
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2460363 - PeerSpot reviewer
reviewer2460363
Chief Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Automatically remove threats from mailboxes once identified, reducing manual intervention but on-premise version doesn't scale well for large companies
Auto pull and auto restore are valuable features. Auto restore isn't quite what it should be, but it's a lot better than someone having to manually release mail back to everyone. If something's pulled and then it's later declared a false positive, it will automatically restore. They also take automatic feeds from their advanced threat detection modules. Anytime Advanced Threat Protection finds something that was allowed to go through, either a URL or attachment, it will send out a signal, and Threat Response will automatically pull all of that out of the mail files. The automation is the big thing for us. Integration capabilities: There's an API, but most of it is around how you handle incidents. We're also not using the whole Threat Response suite, just the subset. So, we've never had to or could integrate anything else. We're limited to the Exchange portion only. The whole Threat Response should be labeled as a SOAR tool. The portion we have, I would call it "SOAR-lite." I know there are a couple of others that offer a SOAR-lite, but we're just starting to look at them.
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BM
Blas M.
Information Security Architect at UMMS
Offers a wide range of advanced detection capabilities for identifying suspicious activities
We already talked about Enterprise Security on May 28th.I'm using Splunk Enterprise. We do use SOAR Mission Control, but not AppDynamics or Phantom. We have another freemium app for infrastructure monitoring called ITSI, IT Essentials Work. We also have the ITSI module for virtualization. I would have to rate Splunk Security Essentials a 10 out of 10 because it's free and there's tons of usable content.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Support is very responsive."
"It has reduced our manual efforts to remove emails from each user's inbox, and in this case we do not have to ask our IT department or users to do so."
"The best part of Proofpoint Threat Response is the Auto-Pull feature. Being able to pull an email back from a user's mailbox is very useful, yet I have noticed that not a lot of organizations use this kind of feature."
"The platform's most valuable include the ability to check emails and block potential spam."
"If something's pulled and then it's later declared a false positive, it will automatically restore. They also take automatic feeds from their advanced threat detection modules."
"They have a good catalog of plans to use to resist the attacks."
"We are focusing on security to ensure incidents are reported efficiently. In addition to that, for reporting purposes, we are utilizing our dashboards or creating new ones. We will be using free visualization tools for this purpose."
"The network monitoring feature is particularly valuable for gathering information about users, login times, and other statistics."
"I would have to rate Splunk Security Essentials a 10 out of 10 because it's free and there's tons of usable content."
 

Cons

"The platform's technical support services and pricing need improvement."
"If the reporting gets improved then it would be better, but the product is running amazing as it is."
"Has some quirks."
"The interface within Threat Response could be made simpler."
"The on-premise version doesn't scale well for large companies."
"The reporting feature needs to be more user-friendly."
"They could add more AI content or AI and machine learning."
"The price could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's quite affordable to have it with this much functionality and ease to administrate."
"The way most big companies work with Proofpoint is that they try to tie everything into an enterprise license. I can't comment on the actual costs, however I do know that alternative solutions such as Abnormal Security can be much more expensive than Proofpoint Threat Response."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Threat Response?
I have a vague idea because I don't know what others are charging. But we felt that putting up with the pains and having to spend more time keeping it running than we expected is still better than ...
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What needs improvement with Proofpoint Threat Response?
The platform's technical support services and pricing need improvement.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Threat Response?
We use the product to verify and manage emails sent and received through our Microsoft Exchange server, focusing on blocking potential spam emails.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk Security Essentials?
Our SecOps manager and CISO were more familiar with Splunk, and the price was right. That was probably the primary driver, and we did evaluation as well with strict criteria and Gartner ratings.
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What needs improvement with Splunk Security Essentials?
I have not used Splunk Security Essentials' customizable dashboards. I have not taken advantage of the pre-built security use cases in Splunk.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Splunk Security Essentials?
We use Splunk Security Essentials. We have projects, though not many projects per year. The solution is used to resist cyber attacks. They have a good catalog of plans to use to resist the attacks.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Cofense Platform vs Proofpoint Threat Response Logo
Cofense Platform vs Proofpoint Threat Response
Compared 21% of the time
IBM Resilient vs Proofpoint Threat Response Logo
IBM Resilient vs Proofpoint Threat Response
Compared 17% of the time
Splunk Attack Analyzer vs Proofpoint Threat Response Logo
Splunk Attack Analyzer vs Proofpoint Threat Response
Compared 17% of the time
Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Proofpoint Threat Response Logo
Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Proofpoint Threat Response
Compared 13% of the time
Netwrix Threat Manager vs Proofpoint Threat Response Logo
Netwrix Threat Manager vs Proofpoint Threat Response
Compared 13% of the time
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MetaCompliance MetaIncident vs Splunk Security Essentials Logo
MetaCompliance MetaIncident vs Splunk Security Essentials
Compared 50% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Platform vs Splunk Security Essentials Logo
Splunk Enterprise Platform vs Splunk Security Essentials
Compared 50% of the time
More Splunk Security Essentials Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Proofpoint Threat Response
January 2026
Proofpoint Threat Response reportDownload Proofpoint Threat Response product report
Buyer's Guide
Data Visualization
January 2026
Splunk Security Essentials reportDownload Splunk Security Essentials product report
 

Overview

No defense can stop every attack. When something does get through, Proofpoint Threat Response takes the manual labor and guesswork out of incident response to help you resolve threats faster and more efficiently. Get an actionable view of threats, enrich alerts, and automate forensic collection and comparison. For verified threats, quarantine and contain users, hosts, and malicious email attachments - automatically or at the push of a button.

Proofpoint

Splunk Security Essentials provides a user-friendly interface that streamlines security operations with prebuilt content, helping organizations implement and manage security use cases efficiently.

This tool allows users to navigate a wide range of security use cases, offering valuable insights and tailored solutions. With its ability to enhance security postures, Splunk Security Essentials is essential for managing complex security operations. It supports use case development by providing actionable guidance and resources, enabling effective security measure planning.

What are the standout features of Splunk Security Essentials?
  • Prebuilt Use Case Content: Provides ready-to-use templates for common security scenarios.
  • Visual Analytics: Offers intuitive data visualization for threat analysis and reporting.
  • Guided Implementation: Facilitates easy adoption through step-by-step use case setups.
Which benefits and ROI can be expected when evaluating Splunk Security Essentials reviews?
  • Improved Threat Detection: Enhances the capability to identify and mitigate threats quickly.
  • Operational Efficiency: Streamlines processes, saving time and resources.
  • Cost-Effective: Reduces the need for additional security tools through integrated solutions.

In financial and healthcare sectors, Splunk Security Essentials is often utilized to bolster security frameworks, addressing unique industry challenges. Its adaptable structure supports compliance requirements, ensuring sensitive data protection and regulatory adherence in environments where security is paramount.

Splunk
 

Sample Customers

University of Waterloo, Akorn, Fenwick and West LLP
Information Not Available
Buyer's Guide
Proofpoint Threat Response vs. Splunk Security Essentials
December 2025
Free Report: Proofpoint Threat Response vs. Splunk Security Essentials
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